Twenty-three HIV infected people died in Kailali district in 2018, according to the record of the Seti Zonal Hospital.

Lokraj Paneru, chief of the Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Centre in the zonal hospital, said out of 32 HIV infected people, two committed suicide.

“Nine HIV infected people of Godavari Municipality died in 2018,” said Paneru.

Mostly, people from the Dalit and impoverished families are found infected with HIV in Godavari ward number-10, 11 and 12. Every month, at least one person dies of HIV in these areas.  

Parbati BK, vice chairperson of Godavari Plus, an institution that provides education to people living with HIV, said there are 160 HIV-infected people in Olani village. Among them, 22 are children whose parents died because of HIV.

“Most of the HIV patients in Olani cannot fight with the disease due to a lack of treatment and nutritious food,” said BK.

As per the data of the Seti Zonal Hospital, around 780 HIV-infected people regularly take ART medicines from the hospital. Out of 1,818 HIV-infected people in Kailali, 204 have died of AIDS related diseases so far.

Sex workers, inmates, intravenous drug users, and migrant workers are at a high risk of HIV infection. Doctors said that the risk of HIV has been increasing in the country due to a lack of awareness and a failure to observe precautions. According to the National Centre for Aids and STD Control (NCASC), over 16,428 people living with HIV are receiving ART from different ART centres run by the NCASC in the country. There are an estimated 31,020 people (19,020 male, 12,000 female and 1,192 children) living with HIV in Nepal.